Chapter 75
Lately, because of the series of patches the System had rolled out.
The atmosphere in the Capital Area Survivors' Gallery was slowly but unmistakably changing.
Title : I cleared daily quests and ended up cleaning out a danger zone ㅇㅇ
I started showing up every day with my party members to clear beginner daily quests,
and it seems like one of the Yellow Zone danger zones connected to a safe zone has been more or less cleared,
so our party decided to use it as our base.
At this point, it seems like we could just incorporate it into the safe zone?
ㄹㅇ?
ㄴ The positive effects of daily quests are insane;;
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] If you tell me the location, I'll get it organized...!!!
ㄴ Okay, wait a moment.
“This is the story of how I turned a danger zone into a safe zone while clearing daily quests.”
ㄴ Ahh... He did it again... cleaned it up...
ㄴ You guys... at this rate, System-nim is going to... get moved...
Hey, hey... at this rate... are we going to get “weekly quests”?
ㄴ Weekly quests, my assㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ This was a bonsai game all alongㅋㅋㅋ
But a lot of parties formed to clear daily quests too,
ㄴ And as a result, it seems like more and more danger zones are naturally getting cleared...?
For starters, the fact that we were guaranteed a definite reward for survival once a day
ㄴ seems to be making people go out and collect scrap more diligently.
ㄴ We naturally earn more mana stones too,
ㄴ and there are more newbies now ㅇㅇ
The scrap-collecting life we had gone out to do with tears in our eyes turned into Stalkers' voluntary extermination campaigns once daily quests began offering rewards.
A virtuous cycle was taking place, with people naturally expanding the safe zones as they cleared daily quests.
And that wasn't all.
[Unlucky Gallery Doctor] Ever since the street beautifiers appeared, the number of sickos has decreased exponentially!!! Hahahaha!!
ㄴ Doc, your tearful love for your patients....
ㄴ He means he's going to cry... ㅠ
But shouldn't Doc cry if the number of patients is decreasing...?
ㄴ Wasn't Doc originally providing free volunteer work...?
ㄴ Gasp
ㄴ Ah
The changes that occurred after the streets were cleaned up were far more dramatic than the survivors expected.
As the neglected piles of rotting corpses and filth were incinerated, infections and diseases decreased, of course.
Hey, you little brats, stop littering.
ㄴ Please stop pulling medicine from the vending machines and just throwing the bottles away!!
And please dispose of the mutant byproduct residue properly too.
ㄴ ㄹㅇ Use the byproducts for crafting instead of just throwing them away.
ㄴ The streets stink!!!!!
No! Throw away your trash! Our jobs will disappear otherwise!!!
ㄴ We need something to burn if we're going to get the event rewards!!!
ㄴ No...
ㄴ Now that the streets are clean, I don't want to go back to how things were;;
ㄹㅇ Once you've experienced clean air, you can't go back, huh?
ㄴ Not dizzy-dizzy, clean-clean.
It was even raising everyone's general awareness of public hygiene.
Thus, the impact created by the System converged into a single result.
Title : [Anseong Tangtang Ramen] Well, we don't get the thrill of collecting scrap, but...
Counting the mana stones we earned from growing and selling potatoes is surprisingly hard on the fingers too ㅠㅠ
Huh?
ㄴ Is this a humblebrag?
You may brag.
ㄴ Anseong Tangtang, bring plenty of potatoes tomorrow too.
ㄴ ㄹㅇ I dumped it straight into Jiaco.
[Mythos] Anseong Potato Road maintenance –Complete– ^^
ㄴ [God of War] We won't lose. Pyeongtaek Potato Road control –Complete–
ㄴ [Ironclad Corps] We won't lose. Cheonan Potato Road control –Complete–
ㄴ Complete complete complete
ㄴ What are these bastards doing?
They write “control” but read it as “pioneering the Potato Road”?
ㄴ That's how the Control Brothers talk ㅇㅇ
ㄴ “The Control Brothers' way of speaking,” my assㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅋㅋㅋ
It's kind of strange seeing the guilds getting along while keeping each other in check.
ㄴ Especially Ares and Mythos. They're ㄹㅇ kind of fascinatingㅋㅋ
ㄴ They seem to have gotten closer after that meat-and-booze get-together.
ㄴ “Meat-and-booze get-together,” my assㅋㅋㅋ
But can getting along and keeping each other in check really coexist?
ㄴ But they're rebuilding something, aren't they?
That was because they had achieved perfect division of labor by making use of their respective circumstances and abilities.
Some people grew crops and distributed food, while others cleared danger zones.
The major guilds handled the kinds of tasks that only major guilds could handle.
Meanwhile.
The Capital Area Unified Survivors' Gallery group chat.
[Jobless Troublemaker] : Soooo, the first administrator family meeting!!!!
[Speedrun] : Begiiiiin!!!!
[Healer Union] : “Let's do thisssss!!!!!”
The first family meeting was beginning there.
[Head Mod] : Good. This meeting was called at the suggestion of Jobless Troublemaker, but
[Head Mod] : thank you all for participating on time without exception.
[Shop Wiki] : Sorry I'm late.
[Head Mod] : ;;
[Head Mod] : Anyway, let's take turns explaining how we've been handling our respective duties lately, including the VIP member quest System-nim gave us.
The reason the administrators' family meeting had been called was simple.
“Oh, everyone really is here.”
At present, the atmosphere among the Capital Area survivors was proceeding fairly well thanks to the series of patches I had created.
The survivors were voluntarily expanding the safe zones, albeit slowly, by clearing daily quests. I judged that things had begun to enter the path toward normalization.
Buoyed by that momentum, the meeting had begun with the simple intention of sharing updates on the administrators' respective duties, including Head Mod, who was currently an Apocalypse civil servant.
Each of them had their own responsibilities to attend to.
[Speedrun] : I am still scouting around the Black Zone from the Red Zone but the atmosphere here is strange
[Speedrun] : The number of Red Zone mutants is steadily increasing... and also...
[Head Mod] : Also?
- [Speedrun] : It also seems like they're slowly being pushed down from farther north. Another wave may occur.
- [Shop Wiki] : Oh-ho...
[Speedrun] : But it's not certain yet, so I'll keep going around disinfecting and share any new developments.
[Head Mod] : Good, please do ㅇㅇ
Speedrun was diligently carrying out her assigned duties.
“Another wave might come down again...”
She was diligently spraying vaccines to exterminate the Red Zone's goddamn mosquitoes,
while also monitoring the movements of the dangerous mutants in the Red Zone.
[Shop Wiki] : Here is an update on the new data.
[Shop Wiki] : Thanks to the daily quest rewards, Stalkers are farming more frequently, so cross-verification data on higher-level mutants is rapidly accumulating.
[Shop Wiki] : The mortality rate—in other words, the death rate—of newly Awakened people has decreased by nearly 30 percent.
[Shop Wiki] : + Reports that safe areas are gradually expanding are also successfully showing an upward trend.
Shop Wiki was compiling and sharing various meaningful data through the quests I had given him.
“Oh, that's good.”
Yes, we needed at least one person like that.
- [Shop Wiki] : There is one more thing I would like to report.
- [Shop Wiki] : Do you remember when I previously diluted the preventive vaccine in soil and water for testing?
- [Head Mod] : ㅇㅇ
[Jobless Troublemaker] : ㅇㅇ
- [Shop Wiki] : It did not end with simple water purification.
- [Shop Wiki] : After spraying the diluted vaccine on the soil and observing it continuously,
- [Shop Wiki] : we confirmed that contaminated soil naturally recovered and was restored into normal soil in which crops could grow.
[Speedrun] : !!!!
[Head Mod] : !!!!
“What? It has an effect like that too?”
This vaccine is an insanely overpowered miracle item.
[Shop Wiki] : Of course, it may not reach the level of the System's smart farms, but we may be able to look forward to farming in the Capital Area itself.
[Head Mod] : That's hopeful ㅇㅇ
[Speedrun] : Graduate students are worthy of respect.
“Vaccines really are legendary...”
Of course, the smart farms I built had their growth accelerated by the effect of Tile Resonance.
But the mere fact that farming was possible was hopeful enough.
A one-on-one message from Healer Union arrived at that moment.
[Healer Union] : How is it, Baekbalbaekjung! This big sis's vaccine!!!!
[Jobless Troublemaker] : It's insane, wow;;
Gradually, everyone's reports began coming to an end.
I gave my own report too.
[Jobless Troublemaker] : I worked hard managing the Gallery ㅇㅇ
[Head Mod] : Thanks for working hard to fill in for our absence ㅇㅇ
[Speedrun] : I respect your grind.
[Healer Union] : “Looking at the reactions of the ordinary Stalkers and the Gallery these days, most people think life is gradually becoming more livable.”
[Head Mod] : That must also be System-nim's grace...
[Shop Wiki] : Judging by this Agricultural Revolution, perhaps we've simply undergone algorithmic evolution or entered the next process—
[Head Mod] : Enough!!!!
Just as the meeting was about to enter a brief lull.
“Then shall I bring up the main topic?”
I decided to bring up the fundamental reason I had suggested calling the meeting.
[Jobless Troublemaker] : So, is everyone's opinion that the Capital Area is gradually entering the normalization stage? ;;
[Jobless Troublemaker] : What do you all think about the hunters in the Green Zone? Shouldn't we address them too?
[Speedrun] : !!
[Head Mod] : !!
The reason I brought this up was simple.
“The Green Zone hunters keep bothering me.”
It was true that the Capital Area's situation was gradually improving because of the policies I had implemented.
Even if it had not been entirely my intention, everyone was gradually banding together as one.
But there was one place that was not doing so.
The hunters of the Green Zone.
“I feel like we need to deal with them somehow before moving on...”
It was like enjoying a delicious watermelon while swallowing the thorny seeds along with it.
Everyone was banding together, but those people had been in the Capital Area from the beginning and still refused to join together,
shutting everyone else out because they only cared about surviving among themselves. I felt like we needed to address them once.
And they left me uneasy too.
“Looking at the Seolgak Train, they suddenly started pruning things just when the tail cars were about to prosper.”
And I had not forgotten killing the Stalkers during the last bug patch.
But it would not be right for me to demand a revolution out of nowhere when I was not even going to take the field myself.
That was why I wanted to hear the opinions of the people working on the front lines, who knew about this sort of thing.
“There's nothing wrong with hearing their opinions.”
The people gathered here, including Head Mod, the Apocalypse civil servant, were ultimately good people.
So it would not be too late to hear their opinions first and then decide what to do.
Anyway, I turned my attention back to the administrator chatroom.
- [Head Mod] : I was just about to bring up the same topic...
- [Head Mod] : Could it be Jobless Troublemaker...? To think you saw through the heart of me, an administrator...
- [Speedrun] : I respect Jobless Troublemaker you are a trustworthy person
- [Shop Wiki] : We were thinking along the same lines. It was an issue worth discussing at least once...
“Huh?”
What? They had been thinking exactly the same thing as me.
Telepathy?
“Jomssaem! Do you know how to send telepathy too? Are we linked?”
Grrr-!
If it isn't a link, then maybe it's Zelda?
Anyway.
[Head Mod] : They are people who have abandoned their responsibilities as hunters from the past until now.
[Head Mod] : We put it off because we lacked the capacity until now... but not anymore.
[Head Mod] : I think we need to hold them accountable for what happened during the previous Patch 2 ㅇㅇ
[Speedrun] : what responsibility are we holding them accountable for
[Speedrun] : if it means killing them all i will help
[Head Mod] : I also think the person who massacred the Stalkers and the instigators behind it should be punished.
[Head Mod] : However, depending on the circumstances, talking to them first and making peace may be the better choice.
[Head Mod] : They remain a formidable fighting force, after all.
[Speedrun] : the only good hunter is a dead hunter they all deserve punishment
[Healer Union] : “Do you want total war!!!”
These guys were pretty serious.
“Hmm.”
As I watched the two people displaying an even more hard-line side than me, perhaps.
Wiki Guy proposed a middle-ground solution.
[Shop Wiki] : I believe both of you make valid points.
[Shop Wiki] : But launching a preemptive attack without a clearer justification, or simply watching from the sidelines, both carry risks.
[Shop Wiki] : At the very least, we and they do mutually respect each other. We are not trespassing on one another's territory.
[Jobless Troublemaker] : Then should we just keep watching?
[Shop Wiki] : Not exactly... I mean that this is currently an awkward situation in which it is difficult to act first.
[Shop Wiki] : They are probably watching the Gallery too, so if we act first, they will notice.
[Shop Wiki] : But I think it would be good for us to prepare for something.
But the problem was that the situation was still awkward for now.
“That's true...”
As Wiki Guy said, they were certainly unpleasant, but they had not launched a preemptive attack yet.
That made openly declaring war awkward.
“How about this?”
[Jobless Troublemaker] : The general consensus seems to be that we need to take some kind of action first.
[Jobless Troublemaker] : How about Head Mod asks the other factions?
[Jobless Troublemaker] : The major guilds are banding together and they listen to you, right? Let's ask for their opinions too ㅇㅇ
[Jobless Troublemaker] : Whether they want to make peace with the hunters or really intend to start a revolution.
[Jobless Troublemaker] : + It would be good to get their agreement to work together in future major crises too, right?
[Jobless Troublemaker] : Of course, ask them offline ㅇㅇ Not on the Gallery.
[Shop Wiki] : Sounds good.
[Head Mod] : There is enough reason to talk to them first since we do not know their intentions.
[Head Mod] : I will discuss it with the guild masters, assemble an envoy, and meet with the person in charge over there.
[Head Mod] : I promise to hold them accountable for avoiding their responsibilities despite having power until now, as well as for killing people recently ㅇㅇ
[Head Mod] : Depending on the circumstances, I will also consider taking a hard-line approach ㅇㅇ
[Speedrun] : in that case as always i will move alone and observe the situation
But Head Mod was also originally a hunter.
“What on earth happened to Speedy?”
[Shop Wiki] : First... this has gone on a little long... so let's end the meeting here, and I will post my summary in the group chat.
[Head Mod] : Good, sounds good.
[Healer Union] : “Understood.”
And so the first family meeting came to an end for the time being.
I was left lost in thought for a while too.
“It is true that this is a very awkward situation.”
For now, since we did not know their intentions or goals, it was indeed a situation where taking action felt extremely uncomfortable.
[Mana stones currently held : 993,750]
Of course, that did not mean I was worried. If they were in danger, I had—without exaggeration—3,333 ways to help them.
“About as many as Jomssaem's eyes.”
Who was I? An Awakener from the Black Zone.
[Building Master Main Quest 11: Achieve a total of 200 copied tiles]
[Current: 88 / 200]
[Reward: ???]
I checked the quest first.
If things went well, I might clear it soon.
“Anyway, I should prepare a little too.”
Since I had no information about the hunters, I needed to make whatever preparations I could.
While I was researching the situation.
“Poke?”
I decided to poke them a little too.
******
The next day.
Head Mod, Baek Eunwol.
She was recalling the conversation they had shared in the administrator group chat.
“Amazing... Jobless Troublemaker.”
She had thought he was merely a playful troublemaker, but he was capable of such rational thoughts too.
Had he also been feeling exactly what everyone else was feeling?
From the timing with which he had raised the topic to his proposal of a moderate position.
“I see you in a new light.”
Anyway, as they had discussed in the group chat, Eunwol visited each guild master and spoke with them.
“Head Mod, I think a revolution would be fine. If we seize and control the infrastructure they are using, it would help us a lot more. We have nothing to lose.”
Baek Kang-san of Ares.
“Let's control the infrastructure. It's unfair that we have to live like this. Besides, the Stalkers who died last time were people our guild had subcontracted with.”
The Ironclad Corps' Ironclad Corps.
“I will bring down the formation of those rotten bastards!!! Justice!!”
Park Dari of Gaboong.
Some places took such a hard-line stance, but others pursued practical benefits.
“If it is truly for reconstruction, I think it would be good to talk to them first. They are still powerful Awakeners, after all.”
Yoon Seo-jin of Mythos.
“There is nothing less romantic than a war without justification, Head Mod. Don't we respect each other?”
Kim Mu-jin of White Night.
Their opinions differed somewhat, but they were perfectly united on at least one point.
“Let's talk.”
“I'll go with you, Head Mod.”
“Whether we control them or not is in our hands.”
“We should talk first.”
“Justice!!!!”
Eunwol harmonized their conflicting opinions and, instead of immediately drawing their swords,
“The day has finally come when everyone works together....”
settled on the reasonable middle-ground position of sending an envoy first to learn their intentions.
“Everything according to System-nim's will.”
******
Meanwhile, the Gallery's hot topic was taking a strange turn.
But the hunters << What the hell are these bastards doing?
ㄴ While we're working our asses off...
ㄴ What are they doing...?
ㄴ Exactly.
A candid opinion: I think the hunters are kind of infuriating...
ㄴ We handled the Red Zone wave, Jinhyeok bro, and the bug patch too.
ㄴ If not for System-nim, we'd all have died long ago, that's true,
ㄴ but we ultimately solved everything with our own hands, didn't we...?
There was only one user who had driven the Gallery's hot topic in this direction.
[Jobless Troublemaker] But... aren't hunters a water rocket...?
ㄴ The “hunters are water rockets” theoryㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Finally, it has appearedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ As expected, Jobless Troublemaker, ㄹㅇ
ㄴ ㅇㅋㅋㅋ
That user was Jobless Troublemaker.
As troublemakers usually did, he began stirring things up against the hunters purely for the fun of it.
[Jobless Troublemaker] No, even with the System's infrastructure, the S-bros are steadily improving.
ㄴ [Jobless Troublemaker] If they have infrastructure that's even better than the System's, couldn't they just come out and work with us too?
ㄴ [Jobless Troublemaker] I'm genuinely curious why they don't, that's all ㅇㅇ
ㄴ But he isn't really wrong ㅇㅇ
ㄴ We from the Yellow and Orange Zones are rebuilding things one by one like this,
ㄴ while it's ㄹㅇ unpleasant that the hunters, most of whom came from the Red Zone, are just sitting around ㅇㅇ
[Jobless Troublemaker] What the hell is that barrier around the Green Zone ㅅㅂ
ㄴ [Jobless Troublemaker] Is it an eggshell?
ㄴ “An eggshell,” my assㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅋㅋㅋ
Could it be someone with a barrier ability...?
ㄴ There are artifacts like that, but I've never seen one on that scale....
It must be a high-level Awakener.
ㄴ Someone capable of covering a small city with a barrier has to be a high-level Awakener ㅇㅇ
ㄴ They say she pushed her Main Quest like crazy too.
[Jobless Troublemaker] What? Is she just a tool-clicker?
ㄴ Gasp
ㄴ Gasp
The “hunters are tool-clickers” theory has appearedㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Aren't they just a one-trick barrier pony...?
ㄴ Stop hiding behind your barrier!!
ㄴ Fight the zombies!!!
There were people quietly watching those posts.
A place within the Capital Area that had preserved the appearance of the world before its destruction.
[Green Zone]
In a room where gentle classical music flowed amid skyscrapers.
A woman was looking at the Gallery.
“You fucking baaaastard!!”
She suddenly threw the knife she had been using to cut her steak and screamed.
“Heh heh... They act like that all the time. Why are you reacting so strongly?”
Tick-!
An old man in a suit, calmly staring at a clock, replied with dignity.
“They're calling me a tool-clicker!!!! They're saying I'm a one-trick barrier pony!!!”
“They're not exactly wrong...”
“Hey, old man!! What do you mean by that...!!!!”
The old man quietly watched the woman fume and continued speaking.
“What about the barrier? Is everything still fine?”
“What could possibly happen? Who could enter without my permission!??”
“Heh heh, exactly...”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is just to maintain it? Of course, it's nothing compared to you, old man—”
Just as the woman was about to continue complaining.
Bang-!
The door opened roughly, and a man entered.
A man in a neat suit with pomaded hair combed back neatly.
“Sob...! Please save me! Please...!”
In his hand was another man, dragged along by the collar.
Every inch of the man bound with rope was covered in bruises, with not a single uninjured spot.
Thud-!
The suited man tossed the bound victim at the old man's feet as though handling luggage and said,
“Old man. Here's your meal.”
The old man looked at the victim trembling at his feet and smacked his lips for a moment, but
“Hmm...?”
his expression soon changed into one asking whether that was all.
“...Is that all? One?”
“Isn't eating ten people yesterday enough?”
At the suited man's reproach, the old man clicked his tongue regretfully.
“The number of friends coming in has been rather poor lately.... Compared to the last cycle, the deliveries are half what they were, aren't they?”
“Apparently the livestock being raised by the supplier revolted. Some of the merchandise was lost in the process.”
The suited man grumbled as he took a bottle of whiskey from the refrigerator set against one side of the room and
“So be satisfied with that today. It's not like we're in immediate danger, right??”
gulped it down before setting it on the table.
Bang-!
“This isn't good... This is not good...”
The old man, who had watched his actions for a moment, murmured quietly.
“...Isn't supply your responsibility?”
“It's not like I wanted this to happen.”
At the man's reply, the old man slowly rose from his seat.
“Tsk tsk...”
Clicking his tongue, the old man approached the suited man.
“P-Please save me, please!!”
He placed a hand on the trembling victim's crown and murmured,
“Steal.”
At that moment.
“Mmph! Mmmmph!!!!! Uuuuuuaaaaaah....!!!”
The target's skin instantly lost its moisture, dried and shriveled, and age spots blossomed across it.
His comparatively thick hair turned white and crumbled away,
and his eyes sank deep into their sockets as the man transformed into a skeleton in mere seconds.
Rustle-.
The victim's body then crumbled and collapsed into a handful of ash.
“...!”
“...”
The suited man's and the woman's breathing froze at the sight, the same woman who had thrown her knife while talking about the barrier.
“You would do well not to forget whose grace allows you to drink that liquor.”
When the suited man avoided the old man's gaze, the old man walked over to a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the small city and
“...Back to yesterday again....”
raised a finger into the air and snapped it.
Snap-!
The cheerful sound rang through the room.
Tick-!
The second hand of the clock on the wall began moving backward,
Tick-!
and the room and the scenery outside the window began flowing in a bizarre manner.
Tick-!
The knife the woman had thrown moments earlier returned to the desk.
The pieces of steak she had eaten reappeared on the plate.
The bottle of whiskey the suited man had drunk and set down did the same.
The half-empty bottle filled once more with amber liquid, then passed through the suited man's hand and smoothly returned to the refrigerator from which he had first taken it.
The phenomenon continued throughout the small city as well.
Several sedans speeding through the streets all reversed, while fallen leaves rose back up and attached themselves to the branches.
The water shooting up from a fountain in one corner of the plaza began flowing against gravity, just as it was sucked back into the drain.
“This worked out perfectly. It's time now... time to move on to the next stage.”
After savoring the scene for a moment, the old man spoke again.
“The next stage...? Old man, could it be...?”
“Can we really complete the next quest?
“Yes... We are not far from completing paradise.”
At the words of the suited man and the woman, the old man nodded as if to confirm it.
“How many do we need?”
“Roughly... two thousand, I suppose... though that number excludes those needed to maintain it....”
“That many...? The supplier won't be able to send that many all at once....”
At the woman's words, the old man wore a faint smile.
“Heh heh. They're spread all around us.”
The suited man and the woman understood what the old man truly meant.
“If you mean harvesting them, it's dangerous now. Unlike in the early days of the apocalypse, they are banding together and accepting ordinary people.”
“Right. Isn't it dangerous...? What if the System catches us...?”
“Do not misunderstand... What we are extending is a hand of salvation.”
The two objected, but the old man's expression was firm.
“How could inviting the wretched into paradise be an evil deed?”
“What?”
“We are the ones giving them endlessly. We ask only for a very small price in return.”
At that, the two soon nodded as well.
“Is that what it was...?”
“Hmm... Good....”
“We have also confirmed that they are not infected, so this is the right time to accept them.”
The old man lightly swirled his glass of red wine and spoke to the suited man.
“However, there is one person absolutely necessary for the paradise to be completed.”
Greed spread around the old man's eyes.
“Ha Do-jin, you and Team 2 will bring him here yourselves.”
“Our team has to go again?”
“And we need strength to last in the meantime, so bring those as well. The youngest ones. You personally.”
“It would be nice if we could have another team handle that sort of grunt work.”
The suited man heard the old man's words.
“Sigh. If that's what you want, that's what I'll do.”
Ha Do-jin irritably mussed up his pomaded hair as he grumbled,
and the old man pointed at the clock and whispered to him.
“Time is money.”